Adam Tas

Adam Tas (1668 – June 1722) was a community leader in the Cape Colony at the turn of the 17th century, and is best known for his role in the conflict between Cape Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel (son of the former Governor Simon van der Stel) and the Free Burghers at the Cape of Good Hope.

For South African singer of similar name, see Adam Tas (singer)

Overview

Adam Tas (pronounced "Ah-dum Tuss") was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. One of his aunts and her German husband, Henning Hüsing, came to the Cape in search of fortune. When he was 29 (1697), Tas joined them and stayed at Meerlust,[1] their Stellenbosch home. Two years later he was appointed Standard Bearer to the Burgher Infantry.[2] In June, 1703 he married Elizabeth Von Brakel, the wealthy widow of Joris (Hans Jürgen) Grimpen, who owned a collection of farms[3] in the district.

Tas became secretary of the "Brotherhood", which viewed the Dutch East India Company (VOC) administration at the Cape as corrupt and dictatorial. Like other senior VOC officials, the governor, Willem Adriaan van der Stel also owned a farm, Vergelegen. These VOC officials soon started a corrupt trading monopoly with the VOC which seriously hampered the free burghers' ability to make a living. By 1705, a third of all the farms in the colony belonged to just 20 officials. Tas and Hüsing drafted a petition, accusing local VOC officials of abusing the company's trading monopoly, and managed to persuade 63 of the 550 Cape free burghers to sign it.[4] Without informing the local officials, the signed petition was sent directly to the VOC headquarters in Amsterdam.

The petition was rejected and Van der Stel became aware of its existence. Tas was arrested on 28 February 1706, escorted in chains[5] to Cape Town, and convicted. Van der Stel had parts of Tas’s diary copied (13 June 1705 through 27 February 1706) as evidence.[3] (Large fragments of this copy was rediscovered in 1911[6] by A.C.C. Lloyd, a librarian at the National Library of South Africa[7]) After he was convicted, Tas was thrown in the "Black Hole" - a damp dungeon completely devoid of any light located in the Castle of Good Hope.

However, since 31 of the signatories were Huguenots, and because the Netherlands was at war with France, the rejected petition generated belated concern in Amsterdam. The fear was that the discontent might convince some to become spies for the French. The VOC dismissed van der Stel, and ordered his return to the Netherlands (23 April 1707). VOC officials were subsequently forbidden to own any land at the Cape of Good Hope.[4]

Thirteen months into his incarceration Tas was released. Upon gaining his freedom, Tas named his home "Libertas" (Latin: freedom) in honor of the occasion, and allocated a new meaning ("Tas is Free!") to the name.[5] The property, located on the outskirts of Stellenbosch is currently part of a strawberry farming operation. It includes a homestead extended by a later owner with the date of 1771 on the Cape Dutch gable[8].

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See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 February 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "RootsWeb: SOUTH-AFRICA-L Re: [ZA] Adam TAS". Archived from the original on 8 July 2012.
  3. "RootsWeb: SOUTH-AFRICA-L Re: [ZA] Re: Adam TAS". Archived from the original on 27 May 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Turtle Bunbury - travel writer and historian". Archived from the original on 10 August 2006.
  6. "Dagboek van Adam Tas, 1705-1706, uitgegee deur Leo Fouché en hersien deur A".
  7. "Van Riebeeck Society".
  8. "Then and Now. The Libertas Mansion in Stellenbosch, 246 years later". www.pressreader.com. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
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